HB2U!

HELLLOOOO...... Anyone still out there???

Long time no blog... hope some of you are still out there!  My blog has been on a bit of a hiatus... almost a year since my last post- YIKES!

My card making mojo has been on a slight vacation and is slowly (very slowly) starting to make a come back.  Since my son started school (and a broken computer!), it's been a difficult to find enough me time to sit down to stamp and color like I used to. Not to mention I've recently been "HOOKED" on a new hobby... crocheting! - that's a post for another day...

But, TODAY I am thrilled to be back posting to share that I am the guest designer for the month of May over at The Greeting Farm blog! It felt so great to pick up my copics again!

This week, I'm sharing this fun card I made for my son's 6th (Aack? What? How is he 6?!) birthday that is next Monday! I used the awesome set, Mini-Remix Balloons...





I fussy cut out the birthday boy and the balloons and layered them with foam tape on coordinating patterned papers. The chair he's sitting on is from an older (retired?) set, Sitting Casual!

Thanks for those of you that have stuck around... I hope to make blogging a regular thing again!

Have a FABULOUS day.... Happy MAY!

Sweet Birthday Wishes

I'm on the LDRS Creative blog today sharing a sweet birthday card featuring Sweet Like Cake & Creative Basics dies...



Colored with Copic Markers, I paired it with coordinating patterned papers and the following Creative Basics dies: Fancy Squares & Little Things, Fancy Rectangles & Layers, & Basic Stitched Flags

I layered all the dies together added the yellow patterned border and finished it off with a sentiment from the Friendly Greetings sentiment set.

Copics:
skin: E000, E00, E21, R20
hair: E74, E77, E79
hat/apron: R81, R83, R85
dress/socks: Y06, Y15, Y38, YR23
shoes: T5, T7, T9
cake: E21, E23, E25, E27, E29
stool: E53, E55, E57
bear: E31, E33, E35, E37

Thanks for stopping by! 

Birthday {Hedge} Hugs!

I really wanted to participate in the 'World Card Making Day' fun over the weekeend, but timing just didn't work out for me! (Boo!)  But I WAS able to put together this card using some images I had stamped and colored a few days ago...

Worked especially well when I saw the latest My Favorite Things Card Challenges sketch!

#300!


Here is my take on the sketch...




I used two of *my* favorite things to color at the moment... hedgehogs and succulents/cacti! I thought it would be cute to pair up this cute hedgie with a spiny cactus.

I stamped the little hedgehog and masked him off to stamp the cactus "behind" him, colored with copics, and die cut my scene and mounted on a slightly larger circle in kraft using craft foam. I created my sentiment by using 2 separate stamps from each set, added another cactus to the edge of the sentiment to anchor it so it didn't appear to just float there, and finally adhered the whole piece onto my card base that I stamped using the woodgrain background, added a few of my "DIY" enamel dots and called it done!

Copics: 
hedgehog: E40, E41, E43, E70, E74, E77, E79, R20
cacti: YG03, YG17, YG25, Y02, Y11, RV00, R22, R32, R35; (barrel cactus) YG17, YG21, YG25, Y32, Y35, Y38.

Thanks for stopping by... I have some fun things to share later this week- stay tuned!

Molly Floats

Happy Friday peeps!

I'm so glad the weekend is *finally* here!

Popping in to share a card I made with another new Molly image from Tiddly Inks.... Molly Floats!



I colored sweet Molly with copics (of course) and covered the balloons in glossy accents. It's a bit hard to see, but I stamped the background piece in Versamark with a Hero Arts background stamp (design block-Special Day Words), the flag banner is from Little Darlings Rubber Stamps, Creative Basics, and the colored dots my DIY enamel dots (aka melted perler beads).

Thanks for stopping by... I'll be back shortly with another post!

Forget Me Not Birthday

It's time for a new challenge at Tiddly Inks!


and it's an EASY one this week- Happy Birthday... You can ALWAYS use more birthday cards right?



I pulled out one of the newer Wryn images, Forget Me Not Wryn and put it together with some bright patterned paper, along with finally tapping into my washi tape in my stash *ahem* collection.

Hope to see you join in the challenge- enter for a chance to win some of your own Tiddly Inks digis!

The Fox Says...

Whew! It's been a wild and crazy few weeks- who knew planning (& throwing) 2 birthday parties back to back would take so much out of me! My daughter's 1st and my son's 4th birthdays are about 3 weeks apart!

I posted the card I made for my daughter here and today I'm sharing the card I made for my son, and TODAY is his actual birthday!

Like I said he's 4-  and he is all about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (that was the theme of his party!), space-the solar system & planets, learning the U.S. states and capitals (yes, it's true!), and all about being a BOY!



Just like my daughter's card, I used the sweet Better Together stamp set- these kids are just too cute! The little boy was just a perfect fit because one of my son's favorite songs right now is, "What Does the Fox Say?" He would listen to it all day if I'd let him!

I'm playing along with the Neat & Tangled Little Tangles challenge this week- Anything Goes! 
This card was just what I needed to get my mojo going again- I've been dying to get back into my craft room!

Thanks for stopping by... off to celebrate my boy! ♥

Happy Birthday Girl!

(Wow! This my 1000th post! I would have never thought I'd get this far when I first started blogging so many years ago!)

I finally got my hands on my FIRST Neat & Tangled stamp set, Better Together. This super cute set was designed by the fabulous Elena Roussakis, I love her sweet images! This set is *perfect* for a birthday card for my daughter... she's going to be ONE in a little over a week! I can't believe it!! There's actually stamp that fits my son too- but I still have a few weeks for that one! ;)

On to my card, I'm playing along with the Little Tangles challenge...OMBRE!

And the Anything Goes Challenge Wednesday Challenge at Simon Says Stamp!

I used the sweet little girl with the dog on her head- just because she's super cute and a little silly like my daughter! Also because her dress was open for me to add some design to...



I stamped the '1' from Lawn Fawn's Quinn's 123s, I just had to mask off the bottom to make it fit on her dress. I colored her dress in various shades of pinks and aquas to create an 'ombre' effect & added some sparkle (Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen). I used distress inks to create the ombre tag (Pretty Pink Posh), stamped the hello from the same set and added the 'birthday girl' (Hero Arts). Finished it off with some fun patterned papers scraps from a card I had done a few days ago!

Off to do some more party prepping! Thanks for stopping by!

Sweet (birthday) Succulents

Popping back in to share another card I managed to make over the weekend!

I treated myself to some new stamping goodies for my birthday that was earlier this month, and among those stamps was this Sweet Succulents stamp from My Favorite Things!

I'm squeezing in my card for the MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge #272 *just* before the deadline...



Those succulents were PERFECT for the sketch!


I decided to make my planter pot be overfilling with all the different kinds of succulents like you see in stores, and kept the patterned papers and background pretty simple to draw the attention to the succulents! :)

I have totally joined in on the succulent trend- but I'd like to think that I was slightly ahead of the game as I already had a few of them in my garden *before* they started popping up everywhere- but I still can't get enough of them!

Thanks for stopping in... I'll be back to share another card tomorrow!

Color Layered Bird-day!

Happy Monday!

I decided to play with some new stamps from Hero Arts that are quickly becoming my favorites! I recently got my hands on the Color Layering Bird & Branch and couldn't wait to play! To be honest, I was trying very hard to avoid these color-layering stamps because I don't really have many inks other than Distress Inks, and don't really have the space to store more-but that might have to change very soon because I had SO much fun with this bird!

And just in time too! I'm joining the fun with Right at Home's National Craft Month celebration!

After playing with a couple of color combinations and figuring out the inks that I had that worked how I wanted it to look, and finally settled on this...



I stamped the bird base layer in (Hero Arts) white ink, and used a fantastix to dab on Memento Luxe pinks and a bit of red for the belly and heat set it since they were pigment inks. I then  used Hero Arts Soft Pool and Tide Pool to Navy Ombre ink pad for the remaining layers. Finally, the leaves were stamped using the Lime to Forever Green ombre ink pad. (Now I definitely *need* more inks!) I added the Chinese character for happiness to give a bit of an 'Asian' touch since this birthday card was for my dad. :) Birthday sentiment is  from Mama Elephant's Lunar Extras.

Be back soon with a few more cards I was able to make this weekend...

You're Kind of Amazing...

Hello!

Happy Saturday! Sorry my blogging has been so out of sorts lately... (lots of sickness going around my house right now- blech!)

I've still found some time to get crafty while participating in Kathy Racoosin's 30 Day Coloring Challenge! I've been 26/26 days so far (with a few make up days).. I've been posting them on Instagram and on my Facebook page, I'd love for you to follow me! :)

Anyway onto my card for today, I colored this a few days ago (Day 20) for the challenge and thought it would make a perfect birthday card for my husband! It also happened to be a perfect match for the latest sketch on CAS(E) this Sketch!



I used the super adorable giraffe from WPlus9, Party Animal, and thought it would be fun to put the giraffe IN the balloon!



I mounted my tag (from Pretty Pink Posh- my favorite!) onto the polka dot embossing background by We R Memory Keepers and called it done!

Thanks for stopping by- Enjoy your weekend!

Elephant Wishes

Happy Saturday Friends!

Popping in to share this fun card I made last night (who else spent their Friday nights getting crafty?)

I finally got my hands on these sweet Adorable Elephants from My Favorite Things recently and was going to hold off coloring for a few more days until Kathy Racoosin's next 30 Day Coloring Challenge that starts on Feb 1st! (Check out the deets here!) but I just COULDN'T wait!

I'm playing along with MFT's sketch challenge #265 and Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge...



and this is what I came up with!



I attempted some pseudo-no line coloring by stamping him in some Pumice Stone Distress Ink... but I'm thinking I need to try another gray family of copics next time! I also stamped the hills (from the Ewe are the Best set) and balloons in distress inks and think those turned out a bit better... time for more practice!!

I used the tiny stamps in the set to stamp my background in Versamark and mimicked that same pattern on the vellum overlay.

Off to enjoy the amazing weather today with my family...

Thanks for stopping by!

November Birthdays

Happy December!

A little late to share these, but thought I'd pop in to share some cards I made for my nieces- they're both November babies!

Well, not really babies anymore... this was for my now *SEVEN* year old niece!


 She was "Where's Waldo" for Halloween this year and she just loved her costume and I thought this sweet girl from The Greeting Farm's Secret Santa kit was a perfect match with her striped hat!

& this one was for my *TEN* year old niece!



I also based this one off her Halloween costume, she was SuperGirl and because she's really been getting into superheroes this year too! For her card I decided to use the You're Super set from My Favorite Things, and the sentiment (both the diecut and and the stamp) are from Winnie & Walter- Happy cutaway & The Big, the Bold, & the Happy.

Thanks for stopping by!

Brewing Happy Birthday Wishes!

Hello again!

A friend of mine recently ordered a card for her daughter's upcoming birthday and requested a coffee themed one after seeing some of my posts from the last Coffee Lovers blog hop not too long ago.  Of course I jumped on the opportunity because coffee cards are just SO much FUN!!

So this card... could win an award for most products used on a single card- LOL!

I love piecing together different stamp sets to create my own sentiment and this one was definitely a fun one! How many different stamp companies can you spot?...




FIVE... yes 4 different stamp sets and a die cut went into making this card! The "brewing" is from Simon Says Stamps What's Brewing, the "happy" diecut is from Winnie & Walter, the mug is from Lawn Fawn's Love You a Latte, the heart in the mug as well as the "birthday" is from Mama Elephant's Three Amigos, and finally the "wishes" is from Hero Arts Banners and Messages!

Whew!

I'm also entering this card in the newest challenge over at CAS(E) this Sketch! 



Thanks for stopping by! Happy Weekend!

Krafty Birthday Wishes

When everyone in my house is asleep... mama gets crafty! Last night was no exception... it was late, but I still wanted to play, and I had this idea in my head I had to get down on paper!

When I saw that AEI♥U's newest challenge was Non-White Card Base I had to play along!



For me, when I thought non-white- Kraft cardstock is the first thing that popped into my head!  So my Avery Elle stash is still growing (not fast enough...) but I love using this Petals & Stems set with pigment inks on Kraft!



I stamped the sentiment, flower, leaves & berries with white pigment ink (Hero Arts Unicorn White) on my favorite tag die (Pretty Pink Posh) then using some fantastix dabbed colors using Memento Luxe pigment inks (Pear Tart, Lilac Posies) on top of the white. Finished off with some sequins, a bright doily and called it done!

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy *almost* Friday!

You Party Animal!

I was quite crafty this weekend- What a better way to spend the day when there are *EXTREME* heat warnings... yuck! I'll spend my days staying cool inside with air conditioning! (when the littles are napping of course ;))

I'm joining the AEIHeartU Challenge: Embossing today...



I stamped a few of the Party Animals in a rainbow of colors awhile back, but didn't have anything to put them on... until now! Might just have to make a few more of these with each colored balloon animal for a fun card set.



Since this is an embossing challenge, I embossed everything I could... the balloon animal and sentiments are heat embossed. I forgot how much I like the look of the smooth and shiny embossing- time to emboss all things! I mounted the party animal circle on the embossed card base for a quick CAS design.

Thanks for stopping by- Happy Monday!

Birthday Cacti

Back again!

This time with a card I made using one of the images I colored during Kathy Racoosin's 30 Day Coloring Challenge!
I had an itch to do some watercoloring, and I just love using distress inks with that technique.  And since I live in the desert I thought watercolored cacti would be appropriate! ;)

I layered and masked the cactus from this Hero Arts, Stamp Your Own Cactus set, and created this little desert scene.  The orange bloom is from the Simon Says Stamp Succulents set.



I kept everything one layer except for the flower (because I forgot to add it while I was stamping & masking- oops!) Finished it off with a sentiment and sequins of course!

Thanks for swinging by!

Sweet Macarons!

Happy Friday!

Another card for the week, this time playing along with Avery Elle's AEI♥U Challenge



and it's a RAINBOW challenge!!

I had a few ideas in my head for this one, but this one came together first! Using the Bonjour set, I stamped and colored the macarons in the classic rainbow colors- ROY G BIV!



Who could resist a stack of macarons like that?? Certainly not me!

Thanks for stopping by- have a FABULOUS weekend!

Party Penguin

Happy Monday!

I'm surprisingly finding some pockets of time to get some crafty time in and I've been attempting to keep up with Kathy Racoosin's 2nd 30 Day Coloring Challenge!



Took advantage of one of the images I had colored last week to put it on a card!  I'm all about penguins lately and this one from 2 Cute Ink is just the sweetest! This Birthday Party Penguin is a freebie offered for newsletter subscribers- there's a free image every first of the month! (Go sign up!)



I actually have a few more cards to share- so please check back tomorrow :)

What She Said...

I'm having so much fun playing with some new stamps I got for my birthday earlier this month... (and there's *STILL* so much on my wishlist!)

My recent favorites include the Three Amigos from Mama Elephant! I definitely have a thing for critters and these are super cute and so much fun to color! My sister requested a (belated) birthday card for my nephew and thought this set would be perfect!

I kept the card simple by using scrap pieces of patterned paper and of course my favorite die-cut tag from Pretty Pink Posh!



Thanks for stopping by... until next time!

WooHOOT!

Hi again!!

2nd post of the day.. (scroll down to see my first post or click here)

I had some free time today during my son's nap to squeeze in some craftyness! It's been a little while since I played along with the Paper Smooches Sparks Designer Drafts challenge!



I thought what a better excuse to play with my new (to me) Chubby Chums stamps & I thought they'd fit perfectly with the sketch...



Here's my take:


As I mentioned before, I used the Chubby Chums stamp set, I added the 'celebrate' from this Birthday Words dies set as a branch for the owls to perch upon! :)